Individually owned agricultural holdings as beneficiaries of RDP measure 5, “Afforestation of agricultural land”, in wielkopolska voivodeship

The paper offers a spatial analysis (by poviat) of RDP Measure 5 “Afforestation of agricultural land” in Wielkopolska voivodeship and an assessment of individually operated agricultural holdings in terms of the absorption of funds earmarked for this purpose. The analysis was conducted on the basis of six indices, which were standardised and presented in the form of a normalised mean. The analysis covers the years 2004-2006, i.e. the first financial perspective of Poland’s EU membership. The materials used were those of the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture (AR&MA) on afforestation of agricultural land under the RDP. The research showed there to be wide differences in the absorption of RDP funds by individually held farms of over 1 ha AL earmarked for this purpose. This is an effect of a spatially variable activity of those farms in the absorption of the means, but also of insufficient information concerning the conditions and procedure of granting assistance, because the implementation of Measure 5 had not been preceded by a programme of consultancy and training